BASEBALL: E’ville tops Columbia in opener

Three EHS pitchers hold Eagles to one run, two hits

Edwardsville starting pitcher Reid Hendrickson delivers a pitch in the first inning against Columbia on Thursday at Tom Pile Field inside the District 7 Sports Complex.

Edwardsville starting pitcher Reid Hendrickson delivers a pitch in the first inning against Columbia on Thursday at Tom Pile Field inside the District 7 Sports Complex.

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Edwardsville starting pitcher Reid Hendrickson delivers a pitch in the first inning against Columbia on Thursday at Tom Pile Field inside the District 7 Sports Complex.

Edwardsville starting pitcher Reid Hendrickson delivers a pitch in the first inning against Columbia on Thursday at Tom Pile Field inside the District 7 Sports Complex.

BASEBALL: E’ville tops Columbia in opener

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EDWARDSVILLE – After wrapping up last season with a second-place finish in the Class 4A state tournament, the Edwardsville baseball team opened the 2018 season in impressive fashion.

Paced by a combined two-hitter from pitchers Reid Hendrickson, Jonathon Yancik and Bryce Henry, the Tigers earned a 4-1 victory over Columbia on Thursday at Tom Pile Field in their first game at the second annual Metro East Kickoff Classic.

The loss dropped Columbia to 0-2.

“Pitching-wise, for where we are in the course of the year, I thought we did a good job,” said EHS coach Tim Funkhouser, who has not lost a season opener since taking over the program in 1999. “Defensively, I thought we made some pretty good plays.”

Hendrickson, Yancik and Henry combined for 11 strikeouts. Hendrickson and Yancik shut out Columbia on one hit over the first six innings.

EHS, meanwhile, had only five hits, including a pair of pop-fly singles by sophomore Drake Westcott, and struck out nine times.

But the Tigers took advantage of three Columbia errors to score their first two runs.

“At the plate, we didn’t get a lot of great swings today, but we’ll get better with that,” Funkhouser said. “The Columbia pitchers made it tough.

“They gave us the first run on a throwing error and then we were able to scramble home on a ball in the dirt and score a run on that. On a couple pop-ups that Drake hit, we were able to produce some runs out of that.”

After leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning, EHS broke through with one run in the the second inning.

Leadoff batter Josh Ohl advanced to second base on an error. Ohl moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored on another error.

In the bottom of the fourth, Yancik drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and advanced to third base on a throwing error. A sacrifice fly by Collin Elvers pushed the Tigers’ lead to 2-0.

Edwardsville went up 3-0 in the fifth inning, which started with a pop-fly single down the third-base line by Westcott. The next batter, Hendrickson, reached base on a fielder’s choice.

With two outs, Ben Basarich delivered an RBI single to right field.

EHS added one more run in the sixth inning. Westcott’s two-out RBI single dropped in between three Columbia fielders in shallow left field and scored Ohl, who had reached base after being hit by a pitch.

Columbia scored its lone run in the top of the seventh off Henry, who added two more strikeouts in his lone inning of work.

Starting pitcher Hendrickson picked up the win, allowing no runs and one hit over 3.1 innings while striking four and walking five.

Yancik was especially sharp in his varsity debut, allowing no runs and no hits in 2.2 innings while striking out five and walking one.

“I was just trying to throw strikes and put the ball in play and let my defense get the outs, but I was able to get a few strikeouts,” said Yancik, who played on the junior varsity level last season.

“There was a little bit of nerves before the game, but once I got in there, they all went away and it was just a baseball game. This gives me a big boost of confidence.”

The Tigers lost 14 seniors, including seven everyday players, from last season’s team, but Funkhouser is counting heavily on another deep senior class, which includes 11 players.

EHS is also counting on another big season from Westcott, who batted .435 with an area-leading 12 home runs and a team-high 39 RBIs during his freshman season.

Westcott got off to a good start against Columbia, going 3 for 4 with one RBI.

EHS returns to action at 4 p.m. today with a home game against Tinley Park and will finish the Kickoff Classic at 3 p.m. Saturday by hosting Lincoln-Way West.